ArkCon

Convention
Name:	ArkCon
Dates:	1983, maybe 1984
Frequency:	annual, with at least one mini-con
Location:	Arkansas
Type:
Focus:
Organization:	United Trekkers of Arkansas
Founder:
Founding Date:
URL:
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ArkCon was a Star Trek convention held in in Arkansas.

The first ArkCon was held May 29, 1982. It lost a lot of money, and fans planned a mini-con to raise funds to pay off debts and perhaps have a second con in 1984.

ArkCon 1

The first con was held the weekend of May 29, 1982 at Holiday Inn State Capitol, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Mary Davis was a co-coordinator.

George Takei was the guest of honor.

Con Reports: ArkCon 1

"ArkCon 1" would not have been as good as it was without our guest star, George Takei. Neither of us had met George personally, except in telephone conversations. We knew, more or less, what to expect, but we were not so sure that he did Friday, the 28th of May, was the day George was to arrive. Thank goodness Shirley Maiewski, a veteran of 50 cons...was there to give us some much needed support. We had planned to ... pick up George at the airport at 4.00. ... stayed at the hotel to make the final arrangements while Susan, Shirley Heamdon and Pat Schmidt flew to the airport ..... American Flight 122 from Los Angeles was right on time and delivered George into our capable (?) hands. We brought George to the hotel where he met Lois and a small party of our workers. We also took him to meet Mary Davis, the convention co-ordinator at Holiday Inn, where she presented him with a bottle of wine.

George made a great impression on her as he did all of us. He has a perennial smile. We then took George to his room to get him settled in before we took him to dinner later on that evening. We had scheduled a champagne party for our workers later that evening with George in the con suite. You have not had a dinner until you've had dinner with George. We were numb and barely eating, while George feasted in Arkansas catfish. George is a wonderful and fascinating conversationalist, and we were soon put at ease. It was close to 9.00 before the three of us made it to the con suite. George made an instant hit and the party was on.

...... May 29, ArkCon 1 began officially at 8.00 that morning. Everything was going like clockwork when out of the blue a gopher shows up with a message, "George wants to see you in his room". We looked at each other and headed for the elevator. The higher up we went, the greater our sense of impending doom. What could have possibly gone wrong? We gingerly knocked on his door and were greeted by an unsmiling George a rarity. In fact he looked just about ready to cry. Taking us across the room to the balcony, which faced Broadway Street, while asking, "Why didn't you tell me?"!!! We were totally puzzled until we looked down and saw the annual Riverfest marathon passing us by. And it dawned on us. While we knew George loved to run, it never occurred to us to enter him into the race...It was an honest oversight on our part...We apologised profusely. We learned very quickly just how important running was to him ... the first thing he did upon checking into the hotel was run before we had dinner. But all was not lost - he got to run in a fun run the next morning. The rest of the day went without a hitch.

... Lois says, "Coming to Arkansas was rather special to George in a way....It was in this State that he and his family were held in camps during World War 2 because of his Japanese descent. He was just a small child at the time... He had never been back to Arkansas in all these years. So it was rather unusual and special for him as he got to meet some of the Japanese people who are still here. We did not know it at the time of the Con. that the Bank building next to the hotel had a special display around the Japanese camps in Arkansas on display in their lobby all that week”.

Happy ending. The Bank secured copies of the photos and articles on display for Lois and Susan to send off to George, so he saw them after all.

Regarding the Con. Lois found George "to be a total winner... We so much enjoyed him. He is a real delight. He is so able to mingle .... He puts everyone at ease. We couldn’t get over his laugh though!!! .... he did indeed have everyone running at early hours of the morning .... and any other hours of the day he could manage... The hotel convention co-coordinator, I felt, was a closet Trekker. She asked me if I’d bring George by her office to meet him when arrived. We did and she was very pleased and he was so gracious. When we took him to his room there was a bottle of fine wine on his dresser from her. I think we failed to mention in the Newsletter that George sings in the shower! We could hear him all up and down the sixth floor hallway !!!

The 1983 Mini Con

United Trekkers of Arkansas is planning a fan con for August 20, 1983. This will be a one-day con, with no guest stars, but with films, panels, and dealers room. The cost should be quite low, but we have no details on that yet. The fan con is part of an effort by UTA to raise money to clear debts left by ArkCon I and to raise capital for ArkCon II to be held next summer.

ARKANSAS FAN CON - A convention for fans — no guest stars. August 20, 1983. Holiday Inn State Capitol, Little Hock, Arkansas (6th and Broadway Street) Sponsored by United Trekkers of Arkansas, will feature 2 drawings for phone calls from George Take! and James Doohan, trivia contest, costume contest, zine seminar, filksongs, dealers room, movie room, video room, game room, scavenger hunt, guest speakers, blooper reel, NASA display, fan rap session, space rap session, science rap session. Cost: $10 before August 1, 1983. $15.00 after August 1, 1983.